The present invention relates generally to an improved method and system for the use and deployment of an autonomous oceanographic instrument platform and particularly to such platforms useful for high speed excursions to and from great depths. Specifically, this invention relates to oceanographic instrument platforms used for conductivity, temperature and depth measurements (CTD), that is, conductivity and temperature measured as a function of depth. Such measurements are important in physical oceanography for measuring the circulation patterns of world oceans, in part, in order to improve meteorological and atmospheric models used to examine and predict weather conditions.
Conventional CTD measurements are made in situ from CTD sensors appended to data loggers lowered into the ocean depths on wires. Such systems are cumbersome and slow which makes them expensive for large scale operations. Their usefulness is also limited because the logging wire couples ship motion to the sensor platform which interferes with the measurement process. Other more complex instrument platforms have been developed for special purposes, but none satisfactorily provide an instrument platform useful for large numbers of easily launched and retrieved CTD or similar measurements at reasonable costs.